


Planner Girl

by my_mad_fatuation



Category: My Mad Fat Diary
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 05:50:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11617245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/my_mad_fatuation/pseuds/my_mad_fatuation
Summary: Rae only cares about two things in the world: planners, and her online business selling planner accessories. Her life is organized down to the last detail. But when Finn shows up, all her plans change.





	Planner Girl

As she ran her fingertips over the light blue box sleeve, Rae was brimming with delight over the arrival of her latest purchase. Slowly and with purpose, she slid the box out of its sleeve to reveal the tissue-wrapped product.

“Wow,” she said loudly for the camera that was pointed at her desk as she unwrapped the tissue paper. “It’s even more beautiful in person.”

She carefully removed the item from its box and set it down on the desk in front of her to examine it in all its glory.

“This,” she added, “is the Kikki.K personal planner in the large size, from the new Time Is Now collection. Of course, I’m sure you know this by now, but a Kikki.K personal planner is not the same as a Filofax personal-sized planner.

“Here’s a Filofax personal-sized planner,” she continued, placing a smaller planner from her desk on top of the large spotted one she was unboxing. “It’s about the equivalent of a Kikki.K medium size, whereas the large here is more like an A5-sized Filofax.”

She put the smaller planner aside and tapped her short nails on the larger one in front of her. “But let’s get into this one, shall we.”

Opening it with great reverence, she went over all the details and features of the planner, such as the light blue cover with gold polka dots, the grid patterned interior, the zippered pocket, and the gold hardware.

“It’s just stunning,” she said to the camera as she ran her fingers over the spotted leather.

“Now, obviously,” she added, flipping through the pages of the planner, “I’ll be replacing these inserts with my own printable ones, which are for sale in my Etsy shop—as always, the link is in the description box.”

She thanked her viewers before turning off the camera and spent a few more moments admiring the item in front of her. She was so excited to add this planner to her collection.

Looking over at the IKEA EXPEDIT unit to her right—she bought it before it became KALLAX, and therefore refused to refer to it as such—she tried to determine where she was going to fit her newest acquisition among her existing assortment of planners. Perhaps it was time to box up her old Erin Condren Life Planners to make room, keeping only her currently active planners on display, along with her binder-style planner exteriors, like the one she just bought.

She had a whole rainbow of exteriors that she liked to switch out every once in a while. She wasn’t able to stick with a single planner for more than a month without changing it up.

Rae used to be able to keep just one planner at a time, though, when she started using one for uni. Back then it was purely for function. It wasn’t until she discovered the “planner community” online a few years ago that she realized what a creative outlet planner decorating could be.

In that time, she’d amassed quite the collection of planners, as well as opened an online shop selling stickers and printable inserts. She was running a successful small business now, all because she’d stumbled upon a rather niche hobby—though its popularity was ever growing. She had over 25,000 YouTube subscribers and had sold over 200,000 products on Etsy, after all.

Rae’s business started out tiny, though. It was just her and a Silhouette Portrait machine, running out of her bedroom back when she shared a flat with two other girls. (They did not appreciate the sound of the machine running, however.)

She slowly upgraded, moving into her own flat with a spare bedroom where she was able to set up several machines to get orders done quicker, and then to an actual office space with a wide-format plotter and an employee.

Yes, sometimes she could hardly believe it; she had her own employee.

Izzy had been working with Rae for nearly a year now. They met at a planner meet-up in London where they learned that they both lived in the same town. Izzy had been a fan of Rae’s products for a while already, so she seemed quite eager to work with her.

They quickly became friends, which made Izzy pretty much Rae’s only real-life friend. She’d lost touch with most of her old friends from school, and she hadn’t yet mastered the making-friends-as-an-adult thing. (Except online; she had plenty of friends online.)

It suited Rae just fine, though. She was so busy with her shop, working seven days a week, that she didn’t really have time for a social life anyway. She would chat with Izzy, who came in on Tuesdays and Thursdays to package and ship orders, but other than that, she spent nearly all her time alone.

***

Rae was taking a much-needed coffee break at the desk in her office while waiting for packing slips to print, when someone buzzed the intercom. She set down her beverage and wheeled herself in her spinning chair over towards the receiver to answer it.

She was expecting to see her regular mail delivery person on the video screen, as she was supposed to be getting an order of sticker paper in today, but instead saw a man she did not recognize.

“Yes?” she said into the intercom.

“Hi, I’ve got a package here for Plan-Worthy Designs,” said the man.

“That’s me. Come on up,” said Rae, pressing the button to let him into the building.

She got up from the chair and pushed it back towards the desk before heading over to the door.

A couple minutes later, there was a knock at the door, but she waited a few seconds to answer it so that it wouldn’t seem like she’d just been standing by the door like that.

The man on the other side smiled at her, carrying a large cardboard tube under his arm. “Where do you want this?” he said as he took a step into her office.

“I can just take it here.” She held out her arms for him to hand it over to her, but he didn’t.

“I can put it wherever you need it, I don’t mind,” he replied.

She didn’t feel like arguing with him, so she pointed to an empty space in the corner of the room by the plotter. “Right there is fine,” she said, and he took the package over. “What happened to Lisa?” she added.

He set down the roll and looked back at her. “Who?”

“Lisa, who usually delivers packages here,” said Rae.

“Oh, nothing happened to her; our routes just got switched up,” he explained. He scanned the package with his device and then held it out so Rae could sign on it with the stylus he provided. “What is it that you do here, exactly?” he asked, looking around the office while she signed.

“I make stickers,” she answered without even thinking.

“Oh, cool, like for kids?”

She looked up at him and she remembered why she didn’t often tell people what she did for living—usually she’d just say that she runs a small business, and try to change the subject. “Er, not exactly…” she began.

The delivery guy looked confused but was still smiling. “You make stickers that aren’t for kids?”

Rae was starting to miss Lisa, who never asked probing questions. “I mean, kids can use them if they want,” she said quickly. “They aren’t _inappropriate_ or anything. But they’re meant for people to use in their planners.”

“Planners?”

“You know, agendas, diaries, calendars—”

“I know what planners are, I just didn’t know people put this sort of stuff in them,” he said, picking up a sheet of stickers off the worktable next to him to look at it more closely.

It happened to be a sheet of decorative stickers featuring little owls doing various household chores, which Rae found slightly embarrassing. “Well, some people do, okay?” she said as she snatched it from him.

“Do you make these all yourself?” he asked.

“Yes…”

“You mean you designed those little owl guys?”

Rae nodded.

“That’s pretty impressive,” he said. “So, you’re like a graphic designer, then.”

“I wouldn’t call myself that…”

“Why not?”

“It’s not like I have any formal training in it,” she said. “I just picked stuff up by watching tutorials online.”

“I think that’s even more impressive.” He smiled again and she looked away.

“Yes, well,” she began, staring over at her computer on the far side of the rather small office, “I have orders to fill, so…”

“Right, sorry,” he said with a laugh. “I’ve got more giant packages to deliver, too, so…” He pointed towards the door before giving her a nod and heading out.

***

“You’ve met the knew mail guy, right?” Izzy asked as she slipped a small stack of sticker sheets into a cellophane bag.

“Yeah, I guess,” said Rae, filing away newly printed sticker kits into their correct storage compartments.

“He’s cute, isn’t he?”

“And you’ve got a boyfriend, haven’t you?”

“I’m not saying I’m interested,” said Izzy. “I’m just pointing out a fact.”

“Yes, well, I don’t see how that fact matters,” said Rae.

“I’ve just noticed that you have a bit of a lack of cute boys in your life, is all, Rae.”

“There’s Archie,” she added, pointing at Izzy with a sheet of stickers in her hand.

“The gay guy you talk to at the coffee shop doesn’t count,” Izzy replied.

“You don’t know that the mail guy isn’t gay, though,” said Rae as she returned to her task.

“Then why did he ask about you?”

“He what?”

“Yesterday, when you were at that meeting and I was filling in,” said Izzy. “He asked if you were around.”

Rae hoped she wasn’t blushing, because that would be just too embarrassing at her age. “What did he say?”

“He asked if the woman who designs the stickers was here, and seemed kind of disappointed when I told him you were out.”

“Okay…”

“I’m just saying, I think there’s potential there,” said Izzy.

“Unlikely.”

“Why not?”

“Even if he was interested—and I’m not saying he is—I don’t have time for a social life.”

“You work too much, Rae.”

“I have to keep up with shop orders, don’t I?”

“You could stop doing made-to-order and just pre-print limited amounts,” said Izzy. “Only as much as you can handle while still taking a break once in a while. Yeah?”

“I can’t do that,” said Rae.

“Lots of shops do it that way, it’s not a big deal.”

“But what if I run out of something and—”

“Then you run out of it. The world keeps turning.”

Rae stopped filing and thought for a moment. “I don’t have to decide right now, do I?”

“You have until Saturday,” Izzy replied, returning her attention to packaging orders.

“Why Saturday?”

“Because that’s when I invited him to come get drinks with us.”

***

Rae looked at her reflection in the mirror of the bathroom adjacent to her office and grimaced. She didn’t have a hairbrush with her and she didn’t have time to go home before she was supposed to meet Izzy and the guys.

She realized it was probably a sign that she shouldn’t be working until eight o’clock on a Saturday night. But normally she didn’t have anything else to do.

She had not yet decided to quit doing made-to-order production, so she wanted to stay as late as she could to get caught up, since she knew she might be in late the next morning after drinking. (She was a lightweight, although she didn’t look it.)

Rae grabbed her jacket off the hook near the door and shut off the lights to the office, after having shut down all the computers and machines for the night.

The bar where she was to meet the others was not very far from her office, so she decided to walk it, since the weather was not bad. If anything, she thought the breeze might help do something with her hair. That or make it worse.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d gone out with people at night, let alone spent an evening socializing with a complete stranger. Sure, she’d met the mail guy a couple of times as he was delivering packages, but she didn’t even know his name.

Izzy and her boyfriend, Chop, were already there when Rae arrived, though the mail guy was nowhere to be found yet. Perhaps he wasn’t going to show. That would be a slight relief.

“Rae, you made it!” Izzy said excitedly, getting up to give her friend a hug. “You remember Chop, right?”

“Of course,” said Rae, giving Chop a small nod. “Good to see you, again.”

“And you, m’dear,” he replied as he lifted his pint.

“I’m just going to order something,” she added before heading towards the bar.

It was then that she spotted him.

The mail guy had just walked in and seemed to have spotted her as well. He gave her a small salute-like wave before heading towards her and she smiled politely. In fact, her smile was so polite that it looked rudely insincere.

“It’s the sticker lady,” he said when he’d caught up to her at the bar.

“And the mail guy,” she replied, leaning on a barstool while she waited for someone to serve her.

“Finn,” the mail guy added. “That’s my name.”

“Rae,” she said.

He reached out to shake her hand, which she felt obliged to reciprocate. “Nice to properly meet you, Rae.”

A bartender came around to take their orders, but before Rae could get out her wallet, Finn had already set enough cash on the counter to cover both their drinks.

“I can buy my own drinks, you know,” she said indignantly.

“I know,” he replied with a smile. “You can get the next round, then.”

***

“So, let me make sure I’ve got this completely straight,” said Finn during the next round of drinks. “You two design, produce, and sell your own stickers? That’s kind of incredible.”

“Rae does most of the work, actually,” said Izzy. “I pretty much just package up orders and take them to the post office. But Rae’s a genius.”

Rae tried to hide her face by looking down at the drink in front of her. She felt awkward when people praised her.

“And these stickers are specifically designed for people to use in their planners?” Finn added. “I didn’t even know that was a thing.”

“Yeah, I don’t get it either,” said Chop, taking a swig from his glass. “It’s like a weird obsession of theirs, but lots of other people have it too, apparently.”

“It must be cool being able to work for yourself, though,” Finn said as he looked at Rae. “Doing something you love.”

“It’s cool, yeah, but it’s a lot of work,” said Rae.

“Rae works seven days a week,” said Izzy.

“You work every day?” Finn asked incredulously.

“I don’t work the _entire_ day, every day,” Rae replied. “I usually do half days on Tuesdays and Thursdays when Izzy’s around.”

“That’s mad.” Finn laughed a little. “How do you even have time for a life?”

“She doesn’t,” said Izzy.

“Thank you for that,” Rae said to her.

“Doesn’t, erm, your boyfriend mind that you work so hard?” he asked, looking into his half-empty glass.

“Boyfriend?” Rae scoffed.

“She’s single, if you can believe it,” Izzy piped in.

“I can’t,” he said.

“Hilarious, guys,” said Rae. “I’m a workaholic planner nerd with no free time or social skills; of course I’m single. Any boyfriend of mine would have to be impossibly patient.”

“She’s also really smart and funny,” Izzy added towards Finn, like she was trying to sell Rae to him.

“I can tell,” he replied with a laugh.

Rae stood up. “Look, I don’t need to stay and be mocked by the two of you, all right?”

“We’re not mocking you, Rae,” said Izzy. “You can’t take a compliment.”

“Maybe I’ve just had too much to drink,” said Rae, holding the side of her head. “I should probably go home, anyway.”

“Do you need me to get you a cab?” said Finn, standing as well.

“I can walk from here.”

“Let me walk with you,” he added. “It’s late and you never know who could be prowling the streets.”

“I think that’s a great idea, Rae,” said Izzy enthusiastically.

Rae was too tired to argue, which meant she was probably too tired to defend herself from an attacker, so an escort might be useful to her right now. “Fine.”

***

“This is me,” said Rae when she and Finn arrived at her block of flats.

“Do you need me to walk up with you?” he offered.

“It’s okay, this is a safe building.”

“Well, can I…” Finn looked down at his fidgeting hands, and Rae wondered if he was going to ask to come up anyway. “Can I see you again, some time?” he finally asked.

“I have an order of mailers coming next week, so I’ll probably see you then,” she replied.

“I mean, not in a professional capacity,” he clarified. “I’d like to go out with you.”

“Oh, er… I don’t think so,” she said after a moment of thought. “I’m just really busy and—”

“It’s okay, you don’t have to make excuses.”

“I’m not! You know how hard I work,” she said.

“I know, I know. I’m sorry. Just… Never mind,” he said. “Forget I asked.” He smiled sadly and took a step back. “See you next week.”

***

“You what?”

“I told him I was too busy.”

“Why would you do that, Rae?”

“Because I am! I don’t have time to go out with someone, to get to know someone new.”

“Where’s your planner? And I don’t mean your business planner, I mean your personal planner.”

“In my bag. Why?”

Izzy went over to where Rae’s bag was sitting on the floor next to the desk and pulled a medium, black Kikki.K binder out of it.

“What are you doing?” Rae asked as Izzy opened the planner and started rifling through it.

“Did you write your 2017 goals in here?” Izzy asked before stopping on a page. “Ah, here they are.”

“Why are you—”

“Goals for 2017,” Izzy read. “Reach 200,000 sales on Etsy? Done. Reach 30,000 subscribers on YouTube? Almost done. Spend more time with friends? Not done!”

“I still have half the year to—”

“To what? To make a bunch of friends and then spend time with them? You know me, and that’s it,” she said. “And now here’s someone who wants to spend time with you and you’re turning him down?”

“Well…” Rae began, though she didn’t have an argument.

“I don’t even care if you don’t fancy him,” Izzy continued. “You never know who could become a good friend, right?”

“I didn’t say I don’t fancy him…”

“So if you fancy him, why don’t you just go out with him?”

“Because,” said Rae.

“Because why?”

“Because I’m afraid!”

Izzy’s expression softened. “What are you afraid of?”

Rae folded her arms and looked away. She couldn’t make eye contact when she was about to admit this. “I’m afraid he’ll realize what a weirdo I am and won’t like me anymore.”

“Rae… He already knows you’re a weirdo.” Izzy patted Rae on the arm. “And he likes you anyway. Maybe you should give him a chance.”

***

“I have a package for Plan-Worthy Designs,” Finn said into the intercom.

“Come on up,” Rae replied, and pushed the button to let him into the building.

She took a couple of deep breaths before answering the door. Finn was carrying a large box, but couldn’t seem to make eye contact with Rae.

“Where shall I put this?” he asked.

“On that shelf would be great,” she said, pointing to her right.

He scanned the box before sticking it up on the shelf and handed her the scanning aparatus so she could sign again.

“You remember Saturday?” she said as she signed.

“Yes,” he replied seriously.

“Well, I, erm… I changed my mind.”

“About what?”

“I would like to see you again, after all,” she said. “Socially.”

He finally looked at her and a smile crept across his face. “Really?”

“If you’re still—”

“I am.”

“Okay…” She smiled a little as well. “I’m not sure when, yet, but I’ll let you know when I have time.”

“0743—”

“What are you doing?”

“I’m telling you my number.”

“Oh. Wait.” Rae went to pick up her phone off her desk. “Carry on.”

***

“I have a package here for Rae,” said Finn as he spoke into the intercom.

“Okay…” said Rae, confused. She couldn’t recall ordering anything recently, though she had so much to keep track of.

She buzzed him in and then took a look at her business planner. There was nothing scheduled to come in, and then she realized what day it was—Sunday.

“Hang on a minute,” she said once she opened the door to find Finn standing there with a paper bag under his arm. “You don’t deliver on Sundays.”

“Busted,” he replied, grinning. “This is just a gift from me.” He pulled a can of beer out of the bag to show her, though she could tell there were more inside.

“Why?” she asked as he walked past her into the office.

“Well, you never set a date for us, and I was getting sick of waiting to see you socially, so I figured I’d come find you in the one place I knew you’d be.”

“I’m working…”

“And your boss won’t let you take a little break?” he said, leaning against the worktable in the middle of the room.

Rae didn’t know what to say. She knew she really should get back to work designing a new sticker kit for next week; otherwise it would be the first week in nearly a year that she didn’t release a new kit.

On the other hand, there was no rule saying she had to release a kit every week…

“One drink, and then you leave, all right?” she said as he handed her a can. “I never drink at work…”

“Really? I do it all the time,” he said. She had to look at him to realize he was joking, he sounded so sincere.

“Wait a minute,” she added, looking him up and down. “You’re wearing your uniform.”

Finn looked away shyly. “I thought it would make the joke better.”

“Did no one think it was weird to see you in uniform on a Sunday?”

“Oh, probably.”

“Did you go to the store like that?”

“You know, enough about me,” he said, waving his hand like he was brushing the question away. “How have things been the past two weeks?”

“Work is just crazy,” said Rae as she cracked open her beer and took a sip. “I had a sale last weekend, and I’m still trying to catch up with those orders, as well as all the orders since. It’s a nightmare.”

“Is that why you haven’t called me?”

“I guess…”

“Well, maybe it’s good for you to take a break from it for a little while,” he said. “You don’t want to get burnt out.”

She stared down at the can in her hands as she leaned against the worktable beside him. “I’m sorry I didn’t make plans with you yet, I just…”

“If you just want to be friends, that’s fine, too.”

“Is that what you want?”

“What I really want is not appropriate for me to tell you on the first date.” He laughed, which made Rae unsure of whether or not he was joking.

“I dunno…” she said, taking another sip of her drink. “If you tell me what you’re thinking, then maybe I’ll tell you what I’m thinking every time you say you have a package for me.”

When she looked at him out of the corner of her eye, she could see he was desperately trying not to smile. He looked at her as well, and she diverted her attention quickly.

He slowly stood upright and turned towards her, taking the can from her hand and placing it on a nearby shelf along with his. He took a step closer and she leaned back, only because she wasn’t used to having someone stand so close to her.

They stared at one another for a moment before Finn spoke.

“Are you thinking something like this?” he said, slipping his hands around her waist.

“That depends.”

“On what?”

She flicked her eyes down before meeting his gaze again. “On how far you’re willing to go to deliver that package.”

“I’ll give it to you right now,” he said, letting his eyes wander south as well, “as long as you’ll sign for it.”

She took the pen out of his shirt pocket and stuck the end of it between her teeth. “Sure.”

He grabbed the pen out of her hand and tossed it onto the floor before crashing his lips into hers, pressing himself against her. She started to pull up the back of his shirt desperately until he reached behind his head to take it off. She ran her hands over his bare chest and realized she’d never seen anyone quite so exquisite in real life before.

She had to take her hands off him long enough for him to lift her shirt, but she was immediately back on him, trying to unfasten his belt so she could free him from his trousers. She was having trouble, though.

“Here,” he said, taking ahold of his belt. “The buckle’s a bit stiff.”

“It’s not the only thing, is it?” she replied as she traced lines over his abdomen.

He continued to focus on his belt, but she could see the corner of his mouth curl up. When he finally got it open, he let his trousers fall to the ground, making it perfectly clear to Rae that the buckle was, in fact, not the only thing.

He grabbed her hips and helped her hop up onto the worktable, and they both struggled to remove her jeans. (There was obviously an error in the order of operations, but they got there in the end.)

Rae leaned back on the table, but her hand slipped, as there was a stack of sticker sheets underneath it, so she shoved them aside and caused them to go flying off the table.

She wanted to care that she’d have to redo all those sheets, really, but as Finn kissed her and held up her legs, she just couldn’t.

***

The next three weeks were a bit of a blur for Rae.

It seemed like she was always at the office, working late. But she had to work late, because of all the time that she was spending with Finn when she was supposed to be working.

Time spent with him on the table, or the desk, or the chair—or even a quickie against the wall when he was supposed to be working, too. It was getting to the point where she got turned on at the sight of the uniform.

That wasn’t all they did together, of course. He’d also bring her lunch or dinner some days, and they’d sit and chat, and she wouldn’t get any work done even though she intended to.

She only went home to sleep, and even that was only for a few hours a night. People were starting to get worried about her, and she knew it. She’d already put the shop in vacation mode to try and catch up on orders, but there was only one way she could think to fix things permanently.

“What are you talking about?” Finn asked her as he held her around her waist. He sounded like he didn’t believe her.

“I’m saying we shouldn’t do this anymore,” she said seriously, pushing him away. “I have work piling up and I have a million things I should be doing and—”

“So you’re ending it with me because of your work?”

“You say that like it’s ridiculous.”

“It is ridiculous!”

Rae went to sit at her desk, but Finn swiveled the chair around so she would continue facing him.

“You can’t put your entire life on hold for a job,” he said.

“It’s not just a _job_ ,” she replied angrily. “It’s my business, my career. And I’m not about to put my career on hold for—”

“Love?”

“—Meaningless sex.”

He laughed mirthlessly. “Meaningless. Okay. That’s good to know.”

“Wait, I didn’t mean—”

“No, you know what, Rae,” he said, like it was his turn to get angry. “Some day you might find someone you do give a shit about, and when that day comes, I hope you figure out a way to strike a balance in your life, because this is no way to live!”

***

Rae kept the shop in vacation mode for two weeks after getting caught up on orders. She just couldn’t face it anymore. Not after the way she’d completely messed things up, with the shop and with Finn.

She couldn’t afford to keep the shop on hiatus forever, of course, but she wasn’t sure when she’d be able to handle the onslaught of orders that was sure to come when she reopened—or worse, no orders because everyone will have forgotten about her.

Besides, she knew it was true that she needed a better work/life balance. Here she was, burnt out, all because she tried to have a sliver of a personal life.

Her daily life was so meticulously planned that she wasn’t able to adapt to anything. Perhaps that was the downside of being a planner enthusiast. Now, here she was with absolutely nothing planned in her day, feeling miserable all the time. There clearly had to be something in between.

As she was contemplating how to achieve a work/life balance, her phone beeped at her, startling her out of her train of thought. She checked and it was a message from Finn asking if she was okay.

She replied that she was fine, but then the phone started to ring. Finn again.

“Yes?” she said when she finally answered.

“I haven’t had anything to deliver to you in a few weeks, so I was wondering, is everything all right?” he asked.

“Is everything all right?” she echoed. “Hmm, is everything all right? You know, it’s not, really. No, my shop’s been closed for three weeks, which means I haven’t made any money in three weeks, and I don’t know when I’m going to be able to reopen it because I’m fucking broken and—”

“Whoa, whoa, okay, slow down,” he said. “Do you want to talk about this in person?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“…No.”

“I’ll be there in ten.”

***

Finn showed up at Rae’s flat nine minutes later.

“No traffic,” he said as she let him in.

She offered to make him a cup of tea, but he insisted on making it for both of them.

“Okay, so,” he said when they were sat down with their tea, “tell me exactly what happened.”

Rae took a deep breath and began to tell him all about how she’d been feeling the overwhelm creeping in before they even met, but that she kept not dealing with it, hoping it would just go away on its own.

“Then you showed up and it complicated everything because I didn’t have a system in place to deal with all of it,” she continued. “I was just adding things without taking anything away, and it didn’t work.”

“What are you going to do now?” he said, cradling his mug in his hands.

“I have no idea.”

“Didn’t Izzy mention something about quitting the whole made-to-order thing? That it might make things easier for you?”

“But I wouldn’t be able to offer as many products that way,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to let my customers down.”

“Okay, then why don’t you pay someone to pick up more of the slack?” Finn suggested. “Like Izzy. Can you teach her to print and cut the stickers, so she can help you out with that and you can focus more on designing?”

“I guess I could…” Rae said slowly. “But what if she doesn’t want to?”

“Then hire someone else to do it. Just don’t try to do it all yourself.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

He grinned at her. “I know I’m right.”

***

“I’ve got a package for Plan-Worthy Designs,” Finn said into the intercom.

“Come on up,” Izzy replied as she let him into the building.

Rae was only half paying attention to what was happening as she worked on some new designs on the computer.

“Sign here,” she heard Finn say to Izzy from across the office. “Looks like things are going well up here,” he added.

“Yeah, Rae’s delegated a whole lot more to me,” said Izzy. “She only works four-and-a-half days a week, now.”

“What days does she have off?”

“Tuesday, Friday, and half of Sunday.”

“That’s good to know.”

“I can hear you two talking about me like I’m not here,” said Rae without looking away from her computer.

“Of course, she still rarely takes a break when she is here,” Izzy added.

“You think I could pry her away for a minute?” Finn asked.

“Make it fifteen and you’ve got yourself a deal,” she said.

***

“You wanted to talk to me?” Rae asked as she sat across from Finn in the coffee shop around the corner.

“I just wanted to check in, make sure that things are going okay since the last time we talked,” he said.

“Yeah.” She nodded solemnly. “I took your advice, so I’m doing a lot less of it on my own, which is nice.”

“You don’t seem super happy, though.”

“That’s because there’s something I haven’t been able to fix yet…” she said without looking at him.

“And what’s that?”

“You.”

“You want to fix me?” he asked.

“I want to fix how I left things with you,” she replied. “I miss our—”

“Meaningless sex?”

“—Relationship,” she said. “I’m sorry I said it was meaningless; I just didn’t think anything could be more important than my career, but I was wrong.”

“I could have told you that,” he said.

“You did.”

“Oh, right.”

“Anyway,” she continued, “I don’t expect you to forgive me right away, but I wanted to say that I’m sorry and maybe one day we can be friends and…” She trailed off when she saw him shaking his head. “What?”

“I don’t want to be your friend.”

“Oh.” She was more than a little disappointed. “Okay, well—”

“Rae.” He reached across the table and held onto her hand. “I want to be your impossibly patient boyfriend. If that works for you.”

Rae smiled when she realized what he was saying. “I’ll have to check my planner.”


End file.
